The Night We Met (Lumberjack!Steve AU)

Part 1

Characters: reader, Kurt (Steve), Jana (oc), Brent (oc).

Summary: The moment he walked into your Wintery, small town, you knew there was something different about him. Little did you know that the man you began to fall for wasn't who he appeared to be. On an unexpected, snowy night, the truth comes out and everything changes. Can one night alter the course of your entire life? [Canon]

Warnings: Mentions of drinking, that's it I think.

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: Aah! I'm so excited to share this new series with you! I know, it will seem a little mysterious at first, but trust me, it'll all be explained as we read on. I hope you like this and I'd love to hear what you think! You're all lovely and I adore you.<3

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March 2014

Barren tundra. Frigid wasteland. Isolating Hell-frozen-over. Uninhabitable nightmare. These were the most accurate ways to describe your current location, which was a small logging town in the mountains of North America. Although you spent a good portion of your life growing up here, you never claimed it as home and despite having returned two months previous, you still felt no true affection for the place.

Returning to your "hometown" had been a difficult decision, but in the end it was for the best. Job options had run dry and your father offered you an opportunity. Telling yourself it was only short-term helped ease the sting, although you still didn't exactly have a solid exit plan. Be here now, you told yourself. Do the work, save money, bide your time, and maybe even salvage some sort of relationship with your estranged father. That's as far as you let yourself think into the future.

The town primarily existed because of your father's company, so the residents were almost exclusively employees and their families, if they had them. You were one of the few single females in town so the result was dozens of burly, overly-macho, hairy, and often intoxicated men hitting on you on a regular basis. Some of the older men watched you grow up, so they kept an eye on you now that you were back in town. Not that you couldn't take care of yourself, but the North can be an isolating place. Never hurts for someone to have your back.

The days became monotonous, though. There wasn't much to do in town and you would have to travel at least an hour to ski or shop beyond groceries. You also rarely felt inspired to hang out in random bars with your co-workers. The cold kept everyone inside during the winter months so for you, if you weren't working, you were at home snuggled in front of the fire with a book or movie and a glass of wine.

Once in a great while, the only female friend you had would coerce you into going out for a drink, such as that particular night that was now permanently etched in your mind. Wearing at least three layers of clothing on every part of your body, you were still somehow freezing for the few minutes you lingered outside before your friend appeared.

That was when he came into view, walking with a large duffle bag slung over his shoulder and a look of determination in his eye. You knew everyone in town, so he was definitely a stranger and an attractive one at that. A dark knitted hat was pulled down low over his head with the scruffy beginnings of a beard speckling his chiseled chin. He strode down the main street running through town, wide shoulders and fit physique apparent even under multiple layers of bulky clothing.

Pausing for a moment, you watched from a distance as he took a slow turn. He seemed to be familiarizing himself with the area, shifting his huge bag from one shoulder to the other as if it weighed nothing. He took a deep breath of frigid air, steeling himself, before he walked onward toward the boarding house across the way and disappeared inside.